A car burglar had to be rescued from the icy waters off south Brooklyn Tuesday after jumping in to escape capture, authorities said.

Steven Fishman, 20, was spotted by campus security breaking into a vehicle in a parking lot at Kingsborough Community College in Manhattan Beach at around 1 p.m., cops said.

The thief then made a run for it with the guards close behind before Fishman decided to throw himself into the freezing cold waters not far from the Oceanside campus. But instead of swimming to freedom, Fishman began to flounder and started screaming for help.

“He jumped in and quickly realized he wasn’t going to be able to swim to Mexico,” said a source.

When rescuers located Fishman about thirty minutes later, two firefighters plunged into the water and sifted him out onto the rocks, placed him onto a backboard and loading him into an ambulance, FDNY said.

Fishman was taken to Coney Island Hospital where he was treated for hypothermia. He was also arrested and with petit larceny, resisting arrest, possession of stolen property and unlawful possession of a vehicle, cops said.